Monday, April 20, 2015

Hurry Fill The Font! - Guided To Help A Daughter Of God - Pics With Elders Christensen & Collins - Lunch With Members

We really have had to do a "start over" in this area, but I am starting
to feel like things are finally getting going. We are finding a few
investigators here and there, and are enjoying the process of
looking...searching... and sometimes when you get really lucky,
finding.

I have only a few thoughts to share today, one is an experience that we had with a baptism that just happened here in the
ward (the sister's baptism), that I had written about in my journal, and
will have my mom type, what I took a picture of.

18 de Abril journal entry:

Well today was good. The sisters in our ward had a baptism. It was pretty crazy. We got there about a half hour early to give a lesson to the Barto family in the chapel. This is Taylor's Dad - this part of his journal entry was slightly illegible due to a blury copy of the journal, but I think he was saying that they got to the chapel a little early to teach another family, but then found out about a problem with the sister's baptism. Taylor's journal continues,The sisters told us that there was a small problem. The member that was supposed to fill the baptismal font...didn't fill the font. We had less than an hour to fill the font, which normally takes 2.5 hours. We turned on the water pump and it was pumping out water very slowly. We knew we were in trouble. We got like everyone in the ward who was there working on finding buckets and using basically every water fountain, drinking fountain, even using the grass sprinklers to fill buckets and buckets of water. We all worked hard and like crazy, but after about an hour and a half we filled the baptismal font and the Sister Paula was baptized (who has an incredible story finding the church).

The people in this church are amazing. In the face of a situation that was potentially horrible, the ward worked together to get this baptism to happen. I learn to love the people of Argentina more every day.

Amo este evangelio

-End of Taylor's Journal Entry-

Now this is another experience that happened to me and Elder Hawk
about a month ago, but never got around to telling the story, and I was
just thinking about it, hoping that the woman involved is doing okay.

What had happened was that Elder Hawk and I were walking home and we were going to arrive at about 9:25. We can not be outside of our pension when it is later than 9:30. But as we were walking, we both had the impression to go say hi and invite a less active member to the church the following Sunday.
We hadn't talked with him in a long time, so it was interesting that we
both had the idea to go visit him. We arrived in his house, knowing that
we didn't have anymore time than to say hello and make the invitation to
him, but when we got there he wasn't there, but his wife was, who is not
a member. She looked extremely sad. My companion had the impression
to ask her if she would like to tell us her situation and why she felt
sad. She told us everything. She was sitting there, in a deep depression,
wondering what she was going to do next in her life. She owed an enormous amount of money, and her relationship with her husband was
not going well. She told us that as she sat there she was contemplating
the idea of taking her own life. She told us that her sins were to big
and couldn't be reversed.

I told her the story of when the pharisees had brought the woman
found in adultery to Christ wishing to stone her. But they asked him
what he thought. He said that the man who did not have sin could cast
the first stone. They all left. I told her that the power of repentance
is real, and she began to cry. We sang "Mas cerca Dios de Ti" or "nearer
my God to thee" to her and then we left. She felt the spirit and
understood, at least partially the value that her life holds. I know
that the spirit guided us to find her.

This is Elder Christensen. He has had the EXACT same mission as me. He
started in Carlos a. Lopez replacing me when i left, after 3 months he
went to Obera replacing me, then he took my spot with 7 months in the
mission in Tacuari, just like I did... weird.

This is my "Dad" Elder Cashe Collins. He trained me in my first 6 weeks here and I owe a lot to him!

Here is a typical lunch in a member home :) I'm with Elder Nielson (the
blonde missionary at the end of the table) again! He is in my Zone! If
you remember he was in my district in the MTC!

Thank
you for all the support shown. I really enjoy reading the experiences
from so many missionaries, friends and family from all parts of the
world. You are all great :)

2. Send mail through www.DearElder.comThey will print and mail it for you at no cost (without a stamp). This is a free service.www.DearElder.com Instructions: Select the "Argentina Posadas Mission"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------3. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address:Elder Taylor GravesArgentina Posadas MissionPOB 30150Salt Lake City, UT84130-0150

--------------------------2. Send letters through the Church Pouch Mail Only postcards or one-page correspondences (no envelopes).

Fold the letter in thirds, secure the long side with tape about one inch in from each end. Do not seal the ends. Stamp and address the blank side as you would an envelope. Use the following mailing address: Elder Taylor Graves Argentina Posadas Mission POB 30150 Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150